challenge for you internet researchers

[jyl]

I ran across a jazz artist on Spotify named “Torlei Peaz”. One album, “Soft Lad” 2018, copyright Torlei Peaz.

I thought hm, this is nice, and hit Google to learn more about this artist.

Immediate brick wall.

Zero hits on this man, woman, band, nom de plume, who knows. Absolutely no indication such an entity has ever existed. Which is weird, normally there will be some trace of any artist who has even one album or even a single. I can’t even find the wrong person with this name. In fact, just searching on the names “Torlei” or “Peaz” turns up nothing - not a region, derivation, history, etc.

Searching for “Soft Lad” doesn’t turn up any 2018 album, just a 2015 movie and maybe a later song from some UK pop band, that’s not real clear. I’m not great at searching the US Copyright database but nothing turns up there.

So you sleuths, want to try your luck?

Or, want to educate me about the reality of Spotify, how much of the music there is untraceable?

I’m starting to think this is not an actual person but an invented name used for a single “album” that wasn’t associated with any label, just a collection of music, that might all be by the same artist (sounds like it, someone has a consistent sound and phrasing on their saxophone) but might not. It wasn’t AI generated in 2018 but that date isn’t necessarily real.

[jyl]

Plugged the “album cover “



into Google image search and its “deep AI” says:

“This image is a photograph titled "Diner in Sepia" created by the artist Louise Reeves.
It is a piece of art photography, not a still from a movie or TV show, and has been featured in online photography groups for its composition and sepia-toned aesthetic. ”

Although, I looked up photographer Louise Reeves’ work on Redbubble and it doesn’t look like this - she does still lifes, some of diners, but with no people. The problem with AI, you can’t trust it so you have to hunt down the source to verify, and this one doesn’t bother to give any sources, it could be hallucinating.

[jyl]

One practical implication, is that if it were possible to identify more music like this, then you could download and use it royalty-free for anything.

[jyl]

It looks like this maybe was released in 2018? Or is this service just pulling a (fake?) date from Spotify? The ISRC number given there returns nothing on the IFPI site https://songdata.io/track/7h5US2VWQvbbEe5sagOe19/I-Saw-You-Across-the-Room-by-Torlei-Peaz

[70SATMan]

Ghost artist alias most likely. Articles out there accusing Spotify of padding their playlists with either their own created content or cheaper international no name artists.

[jyl]

And this was indeed pushed into my feed, and while I like it, it is kind of background music.

[Dpmulvan]

Originally Posted by jyl

I ran across a jazz artist on Spotify named “Torlei Peaz”. One album, “Soft Lad” 2018, copyright Torlei Peaz.

I thought hm, this is nice, and hit Google to learn more about this artist.

Immediate brick wall.

Zero hits on this man, woman, band, nom de plume, who knows. Absolutely no indication such an entity has ever existed. Which is weird, normally there will be some trace of any artist who has even one album or even a single. I can’t even find the wrong person with this name. In fact, just searching on the names “Torlei” or “Peaz” turns up nothing - not a region, derivation, history, etc.

Searching for “Soft Lad” doesn’t turn up any 2018 album, just a 2015 movie and maybe a later song from some UK pop band, that’s not real clear. I’m not great at searching the US Copyright database but nothing turns up there.

So you sleuths, want to try your luck?

Or, want to educate me about the reality of Spotify, how much of the music there is untraceable?

I’m starting to think this is not an actual person but an invented name used for a single “album” that wasn’t associated with any label, just a collection of music, that might all be by the same artist (sounds like it, someone has a consistent sound and phrasing on their saxophone) but might not. It wasn’t AI generated in 2018 but that date isn’t necessarily real.

https://app.chartmetric.com/artist/14139233

[herr_oberst]

↑

I get a 404 (file not found) when I click on any song on that list...



I went to YouTube and searched for Soft Lad; it's a pretty common title, but not with this artist.

[Gogar]

A lot of the music in the Spotify 'easy listening' or instrumental music sections is not AI but it's made by people who purposefully are as mentioned 'ghost writers' of a sort. Spotify will pay an upfront sum to these artists and they just slam out instrumental content. Things like instrumental jazz or easy listening piano or 'relaxing ambient massage' music. It's sort of "work for hire" for the artist and that certainly has appeal.

These artists use different names and often can have a few different names for their ghost 'artists.'

They get paid up front to slog out hours of these instrumental tracks and since Spotify has already paid them, spotify pushes their "ghost artists' instrumental tunes up certain playlists and gets to use the content they have already paid for instead of paying a $.004 stream royalty.

People pull up their spotify in the massage studio or the dentist lobby and click on "easy listening piano" or "lobby music" and off to the races. No one in the optometrist's office looks at a 'relaxing piano' playlist to find the actual artist they are looking for.

Side effect is that some of it is actually pleasant and that's probably what you found!

[Steve Carlton]

Who's the woman with the cup of coffee looking at me?

[70SATMan]

Hands off, I called dibs.

[Cajundaddy]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

Who's the woman with the cup of coffee looking at me?

Yes, she is a hottie with an invitation suggested in her eyes. Whew!

As to the music, maybe this is the new Muzak where studio musicians collaborate to produce pleasant arrangements that appeal to a large audience and get paid a salary or fee rather than royalties?? I don't know but it seems plausible.

I struggle with Spotify for many reasons including the "too many choices" paradox, the criminally low royalties paid to genuine artists who happen to be outside of the top .0001% in streams, and the increasing evidence of fake, AI generated music to take the place of genuine human artistry. It actually makes me sick to my stomach and I avoid Spotify for these reasons. At this point I listen almost exclusively to music I can purchase either on disc or download.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Gogar

A lot of the music in the Spotify 'easy listening' or instrumental music sections is not AI but it's made by people who purposefully are as mentioned 'ghost writers' of a sort. Spotify will pay an upfront sum to these artists and they just slam out instrumental content. Things like instrumental jazz or easy listening piano or 'relaxing ambient massage' music. It's sort of "work for hire" for the artist and that certainly has appeal.

These artists use different names and often can have a few different names for their ghost 'artists.'

They get paid up front to slog out hours of these instrumental tracks and since Spotify has already paid them, spotify pushes their "ghost artists' instrumental tunes up certain playlists and gets to use the content they have already paid for instead of paying a $.004 stream royalty.

People pull up their spotify in the massage studio or the dentist lobby and click on "easy listening piano" or "lobby music" and off to the races. No one in the optometrist's office looks at a 'relaxing piano' playlist to find the actual artist they are looking for.

Side effect is that some of it is actually pleasant and that's probably what you found!

Spotify is defrauding its customers in that case.

I see "Torlei Peaz" has the "Verified Artist" checkmark, and if the copyright date and IRSC are fake that is more fraud.

Clicking on "Torlei Peaz Radio" gets me a playlist of various songs by various alleged artists, some of whose names look fake: "Townin Kovrta", "Aziscious Aohori", "Elevaty Racia", Amara Citrine", "Cahles Dulzr", "Rhodia Airya" Each of these has a single "album" from 2018, the same year as the purported "Soft Lad" album, and is supposedly a "Verified Artist". They are all the same style of mellow easy-listening jazz, all with the exact same sax tone/sound. I am guessing these are all the same entity.

It is, I think, one thing to offer tracks from musicians who sell their rights to Spotify. Promoting their music over that of artists who didn't sell their rights is, I think, nasty. Promoting fictitious artists as real people is, I think, fraudulent.

There are some seemingly-real bands in the playlist too.

[jyl]

I've sent an email to Spotify's investor relations - we'll see if they bother to reply.

Can you guys suggest a streaming service that is better that Spotify? Apple Music? Tidal?

My daughter bought 1,200 CDs from a deceased pastor and musician's collection, for $350. He - and this was a real person - had great taste in music. $0.30/CD. I'm shopping for a CD player, preferably a multi-disc changer.

[Cajundaddy]

^^ Oh JYL that's not fraud, they just accidentally left out the "ghost/AI" in their "Verified Artist" description. It's kinda like "I never said THAT Jeffrey Epstein" .

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by jyl

I'm shopping for a CD player, preferably a multi-disc changer.

Rip them to MP3s or lossless and you can store and play them anywhere.
Really just an investment in time.

[Gogar]

I don't understand why you say it's "fraud." The art is real and the person who made it is real. Maybe the name is fake and it's not the first time a musical artist has had a different 'artist name.' Just ask Robert Zimmerman!

It's a little gray area if Spotify is helping to curate the music that they will then weight towards in these kinds of playlists but it's certainly not illegal.

[pavulon]

Originally Posted by jyl

Can you guys suggest a streaming service that is better that Spotify? Apple Music? Tidal?

Better in which way(s)?

[Steve Carlton]

I switched from Spotify to Amazon Music because they had more HD music and another reason (political). I went back to Spotify because the interface is better and I get better search results. It's as if Amazon doesn't want you to find what you're looking for. Now Spotify offers lossless files, which is what I wanted all along. When I had a Volvo with a Bowers & Wilkins stereo, I got Tidal. It sounded a little better sometimes, but was expensive and the interface was bad. And I don't think they have nearly the library to play from. This was probably 6-7 years ago.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by Gogar

I don't understand why you say it's "fraud." The art is real and the person who made it is real. Maybe the name is fake and it's not the first time a musical artist has had a different 'artist name.' Just ask Robert Zimmerman!

It's a little gray area if Spotify is helping to curate the music that they will then weight towards in these kinds of playlists but it's certainly not illegal.

I think all those "artists" are fictional creations by the same person or entity, but the "Verified Artist" label from Spotify implies that they are real and different persons. I mean, if the "artist" doesn't even have a unique identity, then what is Spotify verifying?